Like A Wish
by SiliconOverlord27
Summary: On that day, the Demon died. The masses cried out in joy. A few cried out in despair. Two cried out in regret. The Knight prayed for another way. The Queen prayed for another chance. And somehow, amidst the cries of freedom, God heard. God listened. And God replied.
1. 00 - Zero Requiem

" _Geass power is similar to a wish, don't you think? It's a request to someone to give you the power to achieve what you can't on your own." -_ Lelouch vi Britannia, 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire

* * *

The White Knight had thought this would be simple. Teach the world to hate one man, then kill that man to bring peace. Suzaku Kururugi would die, but he'd been seeking death for years. Lelouch vi Britannia would die, but that friend had been the destruction of everything that the woman he loved had been. Zero would live on, as a Knight for justice and peace, but he'd always claimed to be that.

It wasn't until he stood on the horizon, facing down the prisoner convoy that the 'Demon Emperor' had so elegantly planned allowing for his death to be as public as possible, that he realized what he was about to do.

The White Knight had become the Black Knight. The Black King had become the White King. They'd removed everything else from the board and the king had deliberately placed himself into checkmate, surrendering to his friend. The Japanese Soldier, who had vowed to change Britannia from within, had given up and decided that results were what mattered. The Britannian Prince, who'd always thought the results were what mattered, had given up and changed the Empire from the inside.

His chest was so tight when he broke for the convoy that he honestly wasn't sure how he could breathe. His vision blurred by tears when he reached the throne. And his heart sinking into his stomach when he saw the peaceful and satisfied look on Lelouch vi Britannia's face as he accepted his death with open arms.

The knight had no idea how he'd managed to thrust the blade forward. Or maybe the demon had stepped into it. Either way he could feel the blood soaking his gloves. The world slowed to a stop, all sounds drowned out and he closed his eyes to try and clear the tears. To try and push away the gut searing regret, realizing what he'd just done. This was killing his father, all over again.

 _'I wish there had been another way...'_

* * *

The Black Queen had thought the demon's death would bring her joy. He'd betrayed them. He'd betrayed her. They were all just pawns to him and he never cared.

When his own alter ego appeared on the horizon, a cold shock of painful clarity shot down her spine. It took her only an instant to realize it had all been a ruse. That the man in the mask was Suzaku Kururugi, and this was what he and Lelouch had had to do. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. For Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld, it was certainly true; she felt her heart stop while her world was ripped out from underneath her, all her beliefs disproven in a single, horrifying scene right before her eyes. Every memory she held of the man about to die flashed back through her. A eulogy stuck on fast forward.

She should have known when he'd so emphatically declared his intention to rescue her that she was more than a simple pawn. More than a piece on his chessboard. She should have known when he said she had to live that he'd been pushing her away. She should have known when she caught him with refrain that his life was quickly losing meaning to him.

So she struggled against her bonds for the first time that day. She screamed words without knowing what they were. She couldn't even hear them, although they'd been shouted at the top of her lungs. And when the blade broke through the Emperor's heart, it felt like it broke through hers as well. He had pushed her away and she had let him. His most loyal follower, and she'd betrayed him in the end. Leaving him to trust his closest enemy instead. Leading him... To this.

She closed her eyes, tears streaking down her face, unable to watch the scene as the Demon's body was cast down the ramp. All sounds drowned away. She'd protected him for so long. But now, in his final moments. She'd failed him.

 _'I wish I could have saved him... '_

* * *

Miles away, a witch prayed for the first time in centuries. She prayed for another way. She prayed for the soul of a demon. She prayed for his forgiveness, because she knew that, if he'd been successful, no one else would. She'd contracted him to grant her one true wish. He had been unable to fulfill that contract, but he'd tried to leave her with the best gift he possibly could. A happy and peaceful world to live out the rest of her immortality in. He'd lost the will to live. Kallen had been captured. Shirley had died. He'd thought Nunally had. She herself had lost her memories. Then Rolo had died to save him. Then his mother turned out to be the very thing he despised. After all of that, having saved Kallen and having discovered Nunally still remained, but it was only her _hatred_ of what he had become that had caused her to open her eyes...He blamed himself for all of it. He'd lost the will to live months ago. And nothing was going to bring it back.

 _'Let him find peace in another life.'_ She begged the Collective Unconscious. God.

* * *

When the White Knight opened his eyes he was was immediately confused. Instead of looking through a tinted visor at a crowded parade, and the corpse of the friend he'd just murdered, he was looking through his own eyes at a white ceiling. Instead of standing, he was lying. And his back hurt like _hell_.

Two heads moved into view. The very familiar visages of Lloyd Asplund and Cecile Croomy, the latter holding a familiar shattered watch that he'd hadn't seen in over a year. The watch that had saved his life…

… Two years ago. In Shinjuku.

 _'What the hell?'_

* * *

The Black Queen was scared to open her eyes. Maybe, like Nunally, she could just not open them again. So that she wouldn't have see his lifeless body laying on the platform, soaked in blood.

She did open them, however. Entranced by the naive thought that maybe it was all a dream. A terrible nightmare she'd be able to wake up from.

The sight that greeted her instead... Was the cockpit of a _Glasgow_ -class Knightmare Frame. A cockpit she hadn't been in in well over a year, ever since she'd gotten the Guren before the battle of Narita. Which meant...

A glance down at the tactical map before her revealed a familiar sight; a map of Old Shinjuku.

 _'Can I… Can I save him?'_

* * *

"Lelouch vi Britannia commands you, now, all of you! DIE!" declared the Black King, his left eye flaring red with the power of Absolute Obedience. A chorus of gunshots answered the order, followed by a staccato rhythm of Britannian bodies collapsing to the crumbled stone underneath.

He laughed maniacally at his new power. This was the missing piece. He could do it. He could beat Britannia.

Oh yes...This was going to be glorious.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit piece written solely for artistic purposes and the enjoyment of others. I do not claim any ownership of Code Geass or the characters involved in this story. This will be the only disclaimer posted for this work, it applies to every chapter.**

 **Author's Note: Yes, this is another time travel story. I enjoy the concept, but the execution of many stories on this site are attempts that I find lacking, so I'm taking my shot at it. My motivation for writing comes in bursts and I am prone to losing interest, as evidenced by all the abandoned stories on my account. I will do my best to finish this one, but I give no promises. I hope that what I do write will give everyone a starting point from which to make their own conclusions about how this alternate universe will turn out. I hope you enjoy!**


	2. 01 - The Birth of a Rebellion

**The Black Queen**

I sped through the ghetto at top speed. Glancing out of the corner of my energy filler status. This damn red, one-armed _Glasgow_ \- crappy as it was - was my ticket to meeting with Lelouch again. As expected, the warning light pinged on, indicating the presence of less than half an hour of juice left in that Sakuradite battery. Everything had happened as I'd remembered it so far...Not that there was a whole lot to remember or her memory was that great, but I was being chased by two _Sutherlands_ just as I had been, and I was in the same general area. So, any moment now, I should hear his voice. Calm and commanding, directing me to the West Entrance and directing me to my victory. Except this victory? This one is insignificant now. We would do so much together again. And this time? We would do it right. I would not doubt him. I would not betray him again.

I debated heading for the train tracks myself, remembering the plan of fending off the two _Sutherlands_. Hell, with my skills as they were now, even in this hulking piece of crap, I could probably take the pair myself. But any deviation from the script now could scare Lelouch off. At least until he'd given me my beloved codename. _Q-1_. His queen. His most powerful and most trusted piece...At one time I considered that an insult. I was nothing put a piece on a board game to him. All for his amusement...But he'd continued that game even after my removal from the board. He was the King. And if the king didn't lead...how could he expect his subordinates to follow? Whether he'd ended up as the Black King or White King, and whether Suzaku ended up as the Black Knight or the White Knight, the color didn't matter. The fact that he hadn't considered himself more than a piece on the board, and, after all. When the game was over, the King and Pawn go in the same box. But the game never ended for me I was set to the side. Protected and coddled by the one _I_ was supposed to protect.

Not anymore.

My musing was broken by the voice I so longed to hear again. "The west entrance. Use the tracks and move to the west entrance." The voice of a fallen angel, at least in my opinion. Knowing what I knew now, his intentions had always been pure. He would create a better world for his sister. And if he hadn't been able to do it for her, then he would do it for her memory. And he would make sure no one else he cared about got hurt like Euphemia, Shirley, Nunally and C.C. had.

I almost forgot to voice my non-existent suspicions. Blindly following what was supposed to be an unknown voice on the radio? That would be a giant question mark, even to him. "Who are you? How'd you get this frequency?" I asked, carefully guarding my excitement and joy at hearing him. Forcing my voice to sound skeptical and distrustful. A question I already knew the answer to...at least the first part, I never did find out how he got our frequencies, but it hardly mattered much. The emotion in my voice was a complete lie though. No better than my sickly facade at Ashford Academy. I'd failed to trust my faith in him once. _Once_. And he was dead because of it. Never again. I have a second chance now, and I'm not going to waste it!

"That doesn't matter. If you want to win, you're just going to have to trust me." 'Not a problem, my king.' I thought in response, deftly guiding my _Glasgow_ up onto the tracks and locking the landspinners to the tracks themselves. I didn't ask what I was supposed to do this time when I saw the train. I knew. I also knew he would tell me whether I asked or not. I didn't even wait for the command, by the time he had voiced his instruction I was already in mid air, ready to crash down on top of the first car. I smirked when I heard one of the two purists behind me fall to Lelouch's slash harkens, and I turned to face the second head on while he was crippled by the gunfire from my king. 'This is just like riding a bike…' I mused, turning around to finish the crippled mech, knowing full well that the man would eject before I got there…

And then my left eye began to burn. My world slowed to a crawl and I felt... _free_. Like the rest of the universe around me was weighed down by some invisible iron blanket, and I remained the lone free individual. I shot forward like a bolt of lightning. The purist had no chance, my slash harken buried into the head of the Knightmare, and my one-arm swung hard, slamming into the chest of the unit. I watched in absolute confusion as the chestplate crumbled in on the cockpit of the unit, and then it was over. The iron blanket lifted and I descended back to the place of a normal girl. The ejection triggered again, but the result was...spectacular. The jets of the mangled cockpit triggered the detonation of the rest of the Knightmare around it, and the cockpit didn't go far at all. Over a few buildings, but obviously, the cockpit module had had to fight through the friction caused by the damage I'd done.

' _What the hell just happened?'_ I asked myself, noting that my left eye no longer burned. I reached up a hand to the eye in wonder. Had that had something to do with it? Did I _do_ that?

I don't know what I did, but somehow I called on it again. I reached out for that burn. Wanting to know if I could call for it. And sure enough it came, the iron blanket falling again and the world slowing down around me. Not that there was anything moving in my immediate area except for resistance members. I dispelled it quickly.

' _What is happening to me?_ _'_

* * *

 **The White Knight**

"Did you read the manual?"

"Cover to cover." Technically, it wasn't a lie. I hadn't bothered to even look at the damn manual for the _Lancelot_ , much less pick it up. But I didn't need to. Somehow I'd woken up in the past, but that didn't change the fact that I'd memorized every word that sat between those covers over a year ago. And I knew the _Lancelot._ I knew it as if it were a second skin.

This time around, I was far less concerned with saving Lelouch than I had been the first time around. I knew full well my best friend would get himself out of this...He _started_ this. I was more concerned about how to take it easy on the resistance members without it seeming like I was holding back. The methods I'd used before hadn't exactly been brutal, I had mostly showed off the _Lancelot's_ speed, agility, and blaze luminous. All the blows I had inflicted had been non-lethal. But it would be nice if I left _some_ Knightmares intact. Lelouch obviously didn't need them. His rebellion would work with or without them, but they might make some things easier.

It was almost like a dream when I sat in the pilot's seat of _my_ Knightmare. I still wasn't exactly sure that it wasn't. But so far I was feeling pain. I could see. I could hear. I could touch. I could smell. I could taste. This dream, if it was one, was incredibly real. And it was dragging on through some otherwise mundane occurrences. It just felt like I was going through the motions. What exactly could I even change that mattered in this world until after Lelouch saved me from my sham of a trial at the hands of the Purists?

Probably not much. I could spare a few _Sutherlands_ , if they were smart enough to run away. If even one survived for Kallen to use, he'd be in much better shape than he'd been the first time around.

Kallen. It was amazing. In another world we might have been partners and the best of friends. Doing our best to protect Lelouch. But due to circumstance and no small amount of stubbornness, we were enemies to the last. Would that be any different now?

It was of little concern. I felt the rush again when the _Lancelot_ launched, and a plan settled into my head. If I remembered things right, this was about the time Lelouch had broken off from the rest of the resistance to confront Prince Clovis. An action I would attempt to keep him from pursuing, if not for the fact that C.C. had explained what Clovis had done to her when he'd experimented on her. Not to mention he'd ordered the extermination of everyone in this entire ghetto just to find her. Resistance or not.

Prince or not, brother or not, that bastard deserved what was coming to him.

But Lelouch would eventually get to him and call for a ceasefire. Which meant I just had to dance with the rebels for a bit. The Lancelot certainly had the speed, maneuverability and defense to do it. I could toy with them. I could let them know it. Cecile would probably see it as me taking it easy because of my injury. Lloyd would probably see it as me testing to see what the thing could do. The resistance would think I was some kind of cocky noble who thought of them as some sort of game for my own amusement...heh.

That would be ironic, wouldn't it?

The resistance tried, but it was far too easy. Toy with them I did, I skimmed past a few Knightmares as if they weren't even worth my time, used my slash harkens on others as an anchor point to swing myself out of the line of fire and behind some buildings. Damaging them, but not destroying them. It was instinct. I did it without even thinking and somehow, I wasn't even paying attention to the battle. Compared to the fight with Kallen's _Guren S.E.I.T.E.N._ , this was child's play.

I couldn't join Lelouch. No. That would change too much. I would never become Euphemia's knight. I could bring him the Lancelot and pilot it, but that would be betraying Lloyd and Cecile. I couldn't do that. But what I could do…

Yes. That would do.

This time, Zero would have a mole.


	3. 02 - The Black Queen

**The Black Queen**

I hate being an invalid. Weak and sickly is just so contrary to my nature that I'm honestly surprised I ever pulled it off. Lelouch isn't the only one who can wear a mask. Speaking of his masks, I'm still trying to figure out which was real and which was the mask. The Demon Emperor had been a ruse, that much was sure. Lelouch Lamperouge was a ruse. Lelouch vi Britannia was dead. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed the only identity he held that wasn't a mask, was the one he hid behind an actual mask.

I'm glad that I remembered to put _my_ mask on before I left for Ashford Academy. Ohgi was surprised that I didn't argue with going back to school, but I didn't dare give him my reason. The truth would have me put in a mental hospital in a heartbeat. A partial truth and if Tamaki ever got wind of it, I would never hear the end of his teasing.

When I made my way to class, I was trying to make a decision. Lelouch would already know who I was soon enough, so the choice of revealing myself to him wasn't the one I had to make. The question was if I should keep the secret that I knew who he was to myself?

If I let him keep his secret, things would play out much the same way they had the first time. I would follow him. I would put my faith in him. But if he revealed himself to me, or if he was revealed to me, I wouldn't leave him there, when he needed me the most.

On the other hand, if I revealed that I knew, he wouldn't have to go through everything alone. He would have me there to help him keep his dual identity under wraps. But he might see me as a threat.

Option three, I could let him keep his secret, but subtly hint that I knew. Now that could be fun.

Option three it was.

I barely heard the irritating voices of the Britannian students around me. They were there, but I was completely zoned out, like I was hearing them from the inside of a fishtank.

These girl weren't my concern right now. Lelouch was, and when he wasn't, I still had to figure out what the heck was going on with my eye. Why I could apparently slow time down. I'd experimented with it a little bit. I could call on it at will. And I wasn't sure if it slowed _everything_ down or just sped me up. But it was something akin to those movie bullet time sequences. It scared me almost as much as it excited me.

Humanity fears that which it does not understand, after all.

We Black Knights were shameful proof of that.

I allowed some fake assurance of my health to the four annoying girls around me to escape my lips right as I caught sight of my King walking through the door into the classroom. I almost tilted my head in curiosity when he did a double take at seeing me. So he still recognized me, although I wasn't entirely sure how. I never exited the _Glasgow_ for him to do so. Which meant he had to have seen me before I ever entered it, or after I left it. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, does it?

It didn't matter, I soon found myself lost in the violet eyes that denoted his royalty while he walked past to sit at the seat behind me. I follow him, looking over my shoulder to do so. I'm kind of surprised he never tried to hide those violet eyes. Not only were they girl magnets, and he so despised fangirls, but they were glaring evidence of who he really was. Seriously, Lamperouge was his mother's maiden name. He didn't bother to change his first name, and he did nothing to hide his appearance. How the _hell_ did the Royal Family _not_ find him? An Internet search for the name 'Lelouch' was _not_ that hard! It wasn't like it was a common name to begin with!

The rest of the day continued just like that. A dull stream of memories that I knew were going to come, and happened just as I remembered them. If it wasn't for the fact that I could still act independently, changing little things here and there like the wording of certain conversations, or the fact that if I focused I could actually make out each detail, I might have thought I was in a dream.

Even the damn bee was still there. I acted exactly as I had before, knowing that that is what triggered Lelouch to see me and, more than likely, confirm his suspicions the first time. This time though, I wasn't silenced by concern over how to explain the death of the bee to him. "Oh, hey Lelouch." ' _Smooth, Kallen. Real smooth._ '

"I want answers." He responded, and his eye lit up red. A bird symbol of sorts contained within the iris. Geass? But...nothing happened. Maybe it was because he already had done this to me before. _'So he did Geass me. For answers?'_ She wondered. "Of course." I answered. Deciding to play along. Best he thought his trick worked on me. Though mentally I was scrambling for how to act as if I were under his Geass. How tried hard to remember how the people he used it on responded to it. But...it was easier said than done as I searched through my memories.

Best go with short, professional answers for now. Act like military. Shouldn't be too hard. I was for him, may have been a hot head but I still knew how to stand at attention and keep it short.

"Were you the one piloting the _Glasgow_ in Shinjuku?" That one took me by surprise. Seriously? That was his question?

"Yes."

"Why terrorism?"

Now _that_ was a loaded question. So much so that I called on the burning in my left eye, hoping the iron blanket would delay him long enough for me to think of an answer. I had no memory of this conversation, so I didn't remember what I told him. And he had changed my viewpoint so much in the last two years that my answer now would have been completely different than my answer then. What was the answer then? Ah. Right. I dispelled the curtain, and allowed time to return to normal, hoping that he hadn't noticed.

"Because I'm half-Japanese." Probably would have declared that I _was_ Japanese originally, and spouted some technicality that I was also half-Britannian, but then again, the man in front of me had showed me that my Britannian blood wasn't a curse. It was just part of who I was. If he had told me on the _Ikaruga_ when we betrayed him, what I meant to him. If he hadn't pushed me away, I would have followed him into whatever hell I'd chased him into in a heartbeat. I probably would have given up my name as Kozuki to be with him. If he'd still become the Emperor, I would have been at his side as a Stadtfeld.

I loved him.

"Guh? Halfblood?"

I _really_ had to fight to keep from laughing at that.

"But why go so far?"

Okay, so that was also a loaded question.

"Because my Brother died."

Not a big secret. Not one I minded sharing with him in the least. Again, I had no memory of this conversation whatsoever. So...I wasn't sure if this was how it had gone the first time or not.

He seemed to pause, apparently trying to think if he had any more questions. I didn't move, waiting for the next question. But he turned away, apparently deciding he was finished, and turned to walk away. I relaxed.

"Oh, right. Just to be sure…" His eye lit up again. And mine widened when I realized something. It was his _left_ eye. "Don't tell anyone about Shinjuku."

 _This_ I remembered. This was where _I_ began to suspect _him._ I scrambled for an answer despite the fact that my brain was recoiling from my realization. His _left_ eye when he tried to Geass someone. _My_ left eye when I called for that...thing. That slowed down time. _'Do I have a Geass? How?!'_

"What do you mean? Shinjuku? Why would you say that?"

His eye was still flared, and he seemed panicked. "Go back to class!"

I was _so_ tempted to just follow his direction. It was so easy for me to do, now. I'd followed his voice without question with the exception of one god forsaken moment of stupidity for so long now that it was almost second nature. And even then...I'd still followed his voice. I didn't follow his heart, or mine. I followed his orders. Go. Leave. Live.

Proof enough that I shouldn't _always_ follow his direction to the letter, I suppose. And especially not now, when I remembered I acted like a hothead. "When I get an answer, I will!"

I didn't need the answer. So it was just amusing to me when he took a few steps back, looking like he was seriously debating just turning and running for his life when he realized his Geass wasn't working.

Thankfully, at least for the sake of his sanity, Shirley interrupted us. Good, that hadn't changed either. Although I'm sure if I changed enough things in the past, my memories of the future would start to become less and less useful...so I had to be careful.

I was walking on a tightrope, it seemed. On one hand, if I changed too much, my memory of the future would be useless. So I had to completely change things before Kamine Island. Before I left him to Suzaku's mercy. But I had to keep things roughly the same at least until Narita. Suzaku would be a major problem. I had to find a way to beat the Lancelot, but even I wasn't sure I could do that without the Guren, even with an extra two years of memories on my side. Or maybe I could stop him from becoming Euphemia's Knight? That title was what had given him the power and the standing to be a royal pain in Lelouch's side in the first place...but how I would I accomplish _that_ , exactly? Just let him die instead of letting Lelouch save him? No. Royal pain in the ass or not, he was still Lelouch's friend. He hadn't done anything yet, and even if he had, _that_ would change far too much. Zero would either never be introduced to the world, or he would be ridiculed for a failed attempt to save Suzaku. And I couldn't exactly force the damn guy to join the Black Knights…

But I'm getting ahead of myself here, aren't I? First I needed to figure out how I would handle the meeting with the Student Council. Should I still allow myself to get drenched in champagne? My cheek flushed as I remembered the fiasco in the shower. When he tried to dissuade my suspicion on who he was. Leading me back to my original questions as I was coming to school. Should I let him know that I knew? Should I let him think that he'd tricked me? Or should I keep him in the dark either way, and let him think that I _suspected?_

And what was my damn plan anyway besides saving him from himself?! The only thing I knew for sure at this point was that I'd do everything I could to stop the SAZ Massacre and I wouldn't leave Lelouch alone when he needed me the most. Was that it? Was I just going to follow him no matter what happens? Would we end up leaders of a free Japan? Or would something interfere and force him to become the Emperor again? At the end of this would I be a Kozuki? A Stadtfeld? ' _A Lamperouge or a vi Britannia?'_ Some small part of my mind whispered. Causing me to flush despite myself and growl in frustration.

God, I hated all this strategizing. _'Dammit Lelouch, this is your job!'_

 **The Next Day**

' _Option 1: Let the champagne spill. Wait for the call in the shower, expose it as a recording.'_

' _Option 2: Let the champagne spill. Wait for the call and play along.'_

' _Option 3: Avoid the champagne, see if Lelouch has any other bright ideas for trying to prove he wasn't the voice at Shinjuku.'_

' _Option 4: Let the champagne spill. Hit on him, see what happens.'_

' _Wait, what?'_ I asked myself, flushing...my face had to be as red as my hair as I sat in class. I'm supremely surprised no one else saw. _'And I called_ him _the pervert...Jesus…'_ I glanced down at the mirror I had open to spy on him. Unlike last time, it wasn't due to any suspicion on if he was the voice from Shijuku...I _knew_ that much. I hadn't even brought it up on the phone with Ohgi. Actually, I was probably a little bit too short with Ohgi...But could anyone blame me? He betrayed Lelouch. He talked _me_ into betraying Lelouch!

No. This time I was watching him just to watch him. I told myself it was so I could keep an eye on him. Keep him safe. But this was Ashford Academy. This was one of the safest places in the entirety of Japan, or Area 11. However the hell you chose to call it. So it was probably for the same reason that anyone who noticed...besides him, probably...would think. And the same reason that I would no doubt deny if they called me on it. _I was admiring him_.

"You think that you could spare a moment? I need to talk to you." He asked, and I debated following with the script once again. But...this was just too much potential fun to see if he got flustered.

Nothing to do with my interest at all. Nope. Not a factor.

"For you? Of course." Somehow I'd managed to keep my voice sickly, but added a flirty tone to it. "I was wondering when you were gonna ask." _Thud_. Hm? Was that Shirley? Or one of these other four nitwits that surrounded me whenever I bothered to come to Ashford?

I was a little bit disappointed when he didn't respond at all. Either he was just too suspicious of me, or he was as dense as the damn armor of the _Damocles_. Still. The reaction from the other girls had me fighting back laughter. _'Sorry, Shirley.'_ I thought momentarily, only a slight hint of actual remorse in my tone. Honestly, Lelouch wasn't that dumb. He knew Shirley liked him. And he knew I was flirting with him just now. But for me, he either thought it was some kind of trick to get his guard down...likely...or he just didn't trust me enough to feel remotely that way yet...also likely. So it was probably both, at this point. With her? He just considered the life he led, or even the possible lives he could lead, far too dangerous.

Sadly, I forgot precisely how the incident with the champagne had even happened, so the decision on whether to take it or not was out of my hands. Still saved myself from getting blasted in the face with that cork though. Without even using my...Geass? I still don't know if that's what this is. I should probably check the next time I look in a mirror. Why hadn't I done that during class? Right. Staring at Lelouch. That's why…

So here I was, in the shower, waiting for him to show up.

"Uh...Sorry about all this. I know they can be a little over the top." I smirked at the uncomfortable tone to his voice, which I hadn't really noticed the first time. So he hadn't really thought this whole situation through.

"That's okay. Everyone has to let loose once in a while, right?" I was far more relaxed now than I was the first time. I had no intention to kill him. Or threaten him. Nor was I uncomfortable with him seeing me like this...He'd done it a lot in the past before anyway, right? Plus I liked him.

"These are some of my clothes. Hope that's okay."

I smirked and took the bait. "Pretty fast trip for going all the way to the boys dorm and back."

"Actually. I live here." Of course, I knew that. "It'd be pretty hard for my sister to live off in the dorms. The principal of the school lets us stay here as a favor."

"I see. Speaking of that...Nunnally and Lelouch, eh? Weren't those the names of a Prince and Princess that disappeared a few years ago?"

' _What the_ hell _possessed you to ask that?! That's even worse than suspecting he's the voice from Shinjuku!'_ I screamed at myself mentally.

"Huh?!" The panicked sound that came from his mouth gave away his shock. And the truth to my statement. He was probably busy re-writing thoughts in his head. Suddenly the comment he'd made to me about Shinjuku wasn't a concern, it was whether or not I knew his true identity. If I knew _both_ …

"It's okay, you know. If you are. I won't say anything. You must have a good reason for hiding it. I was just curious. Truth is I'm hiding a few things too. My birth name is Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld." I tried to calm him. My heart racing in my chest. _'God. So. Fucking. Stupid...Why?!'_

Brrrriiiiiiiingg.

Saved by the bell, oh joy. "You might want to answer that." I suggested, still trying to shake him from his shock. Knowing exactly what would be on the other end of that call.

Great. Dissuade him of the thinking that I know he was the voice from Shinjuku and let him know that I knew he was an exiled prince instead. Way to flipping go.

I was so absorbed in my panic I zoned out while Lelouch answered the phone, only remembering to come back to life when I took the phone from his shaking hand to answer it. "Hello?" Now. How close to play to the script on this call, since I already SCREWED EVERYTHING ELSE UP?!

"Glad you're still alive, Q-1."

"Oh. It's you." He partially relaxed when I said that. At least I had that going for me.

"1600 Hours, the day after tomorrow. The observation deck at Tokyo Tower. Come alone."

"You got it, doc." I noted, before hanging the phone back to Lelouch. "Sorry, apparently I have a new doctor's appointment scheduled…" I explained, knowing a lack of an explanation would tip off more warning bells. Or maybe the easy explanation would worry him.

' _You're playing this way too cool, Kallen…'_ I berated myself. _'Strategizing. Not. My. Job.'_

"Hey." I called as he quickly made his way out the door, a glance around the curtain told me he was looking for all the world like this bathroom was suffocating him. I couldn't blame him. "I mean it. I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me."

' _All of them.'_


	4. 03 - Black Knight in White

**The White Knight**

"Do you know anything about this weapon, Suzaku Kururugi? It was the one used to rob Prince Clovis of his life. The barrel striations leave no doubt." Jeremiah Gottwald. Ever the passionate Britannian soldier, sat before me and explained my conjured crimes to me. Less of an interrogation and more of a 'yeah, we're going to kill you just because we can' kind of thing. It was funny though, I don't seem to remember him being bruised, bandaged, and cradling his left arm last time.

This man was a mockery of the loyal soldier that followed Lelouch to the bitter end two years from now in another world. Just one angry and prejudiced noble among the masses of Britannia now, no hint of his loyalty to Lelouch's she-devil of a mother, nor Lelouch himself. Or Nunally for that matter. Granted, I might be able to change that. All he needed to know was that they were alive and he would go swearing his loyalty to them. The problem was that he would be _reckless_ in his attempt to do so.

Luckily, I had known Lelouch for seven years at this point. I was the one who had saved him from the bombs and the war. Just let that slip, and suddenly things change. The problem is that if I gave him that information here, and now, the last thing he would ever try to do is execute me. Especially for a false crime. And that would mean Zero wouldn't have a reason to make his appearance. I could wait for Zero _to_ make his appearance, but by that point, Jeremiah Gottwald was a disgraced nobleman under suspicion of treason.

Unless I changed that, too. Go to him when his entire country has turned on him. Let him know that I know the children he wants to protect so badly are still alive, and presto. Suddenly I have an ally with me inside the Britannian military.

Lelouch had a spy network building itself for him inside the Britannian military and he didn't even know it.

Nevertheless, I glared at him when he brought up my father. Claiming that as my motive. I didn't bother to deny the accusation. I was just so...irritated. Never mind that Honorary Britannians couldn't even _carry_ firearms according to regulation. No. Clearly I was the killer. Although...He hadn't even actually made the outright accusation that it was my gun.

I opened my mouth to say that, suddenly I felt as if my eye itched.

"Honorary Britannians can't even carry firearms." I noted.

And then I realized the voice that spoke wasn't mine. And that I was staring.

At myself.

' _What...the...fuck?'_ I wondered, blinking, and then suddenly I was back to normal, staring at Jeremiah once more. _'Am I going crazy?'_ I wondered, looking around the room at the four guards that accompanied the Margrave.

All of whom were looking at him like he was a crazy.

One of the guards took the initiative to kick my chair out from under me, sending my sprawling to the floor. "Your fingerprints are all over it!" He accused. Which had my mind reeling. Jeremiah was running this interrogation. Not this guy. They were just there to intimidate me. So why had he spoken up as if he didn't trust his leader to do it for him?

I glared at him, too. Searching for an answer. Felt my eye burning again.

And then I was looking at myself. Again.

' _Why the hell did Jeremiah quote that regulation?! That puts all of our evidence in jeopardy!'_ I heard the thought. Another voice entirely from my own internal monologue, brush by me. And I furrowed my brows. _I_ had said that. Not Jeremiah...right?

I blinked, still confused.

And I was back to normal again. "What the hell is going on?" I muttered aloud.

My answer? One boot to the face.

Typical Britannia.

 **The Black Queen**

Tokyo Tower. Time to see how much I screwed everything up. Lelouch hadn't outright sent someone to try and kill me in the last two days, so at least he didn't feel like eliminating me from the equation.

He also hadn't talked to me. So either I scared the crap out him, or he just hadn't seen reason to. Hopefully the latter.

I still called all the other members of the resistance to meet me there. Funny, this time I was wondering if I should have. The recording _had_ said to come alone. But I'd brought them last time and Lelouch hadn't even batted an eye. Not that I could see, he was behind a mask when I found him.

Like clockwork, the PA system announced that someone had found 'my' phone. And also, like clockwork, Lelouch called me when I approached the observation deck of the tower. And I answered. "Zero? Really, that's what you're going with?" I teased when I answered the phone.

"I want you to board the outbound train on Loop Line 5, and bring your friends." He didn't even respond to the jab. Although he sounded...somewhat amused.

Alright, so at least I hadn't changed too much. Still going on the same train.

I kept to the script when he called me next. Repeating the answers I'd given him the first time, and continuing to the front of the train as directed.

And there he was. Zero. Lelouch _really_ knew how to make that suit work. I doubt Suzaku would ever be able to carry the hearts and minds of the people as well as Lelouch had. He just didn't have the charisma or the mind for theatrics.

"-Take up your sword! Fight for Justice!"

I couldn't even bring myself to _pretend_ to be as skeptical as I was the last time. Kinda ruins it when you know exactly who's wearing the mask. "You want us to wage a war against Britannia?" I clarified, stepping forward. "We don't have the _power_ to do that."

So maybe I cut out a little bit of the middling distrust from Ohgi, Sugiyama, and Yoshida. And _maybe_ I had been a little deliberate with my words…

"You will. How about I show you? If I deliver to you the impossible. Will you follow me?"

But hey, it worked.

 **The White Knight**

Ah. Lloyd. I wonder what he was here for? I hadn't asked about Lelouch and C.C. this time. So, presumably he was just here to inform me how deep a pile of shit I was in this time.

"Congratulations! Your operational efficiency clocked in at a hundred percent! That's amazing!" Lloyd greeted cheerfully.

...Or maybe he was just here to talk about the _Lancelot._ Should have known.

"Not much luck otherwise though...You may be getting a trial, but no one is pulling for you…"

' _Lloyd, you have no idea.'_ I smirked mentally. I let the expression make it onto my face by twisting it into a wry, sarcastic look. "Let me guess, Smoke and Mirrors?" I asked dryly.

How had I ever had faith in the Britannian justice system? Really? How _naive_ had I been before Kanime Island?

"I'm afraid so. The truth is scarce as of late…"

You know that saying? About how time is like a river? You can throw a rock into it to cause a ripple, but it always goes back to normal in the end?

Yeah. That's what this felt like with this conversation.

"I'm not too worried just yet. It isn't over until they hang me." I answered calmly, feeling my eyes burning in passion.

And then I was on the other side of the glass. Staring at myself, bound and deposited on the floor of the surprisingly large cells. I wasn't bound. I was sitting. I was…

In Lloyd's body.

I closed my eyes. And returned to my own body, looking back at Lloyd, who seemed to be as confused as Jeremiah and that guard had been back in the interrogation room.

' _What the_ hell _is going on?!'_

 **The Black Queen**

It was much easier to appreciate Zero's first public performance when you weren't scared out of your mind that it would all go to hell in a handbasket. The first time, I had thought we were committing suicide. This time, it seemed like child's play. The oddity, was the status of Jeremiah Gottwald. He was covered in healing bruises and bandages. And his left arm was in a brace.

Of all the changes I expected to happen to this particular event, that was not one of them. And I was searching my brain for where and when it happened. It had to have been in Shinjuku. But...beyond the _Lancelot_ simply toying with us more than it had before, not entirely sure what that had been about, the only difference of that entire battle…

Was me.

Had I fought Jeremiah at some point during that battle?

Reliving a memory of reliving a memory while you're reliving a memory is a surreal experience.

 **The White Knight**

"It looks like they've treated you rather roughly. Now you know what they're really like, Private Kururugi. Britannia is rotten..."

' _Oh, Lelouch. You have_ no _idea.'_ I snarked in my head, wondering how I had ever been so stupid that I'd believed him wrong in the past. But...

"If you wish to bring change to this world, then join me!"

That, I just couldn't do.

"I can't. If I skip out on my court martial, it'll set a precedent for Japanese and Honorary Britannians everywhere. The repercussions are just too risky. I have to go. My court martial begins in an hour. I might make it if I hurry." I declared, turning to leave. _'Not to mention I have to get to Jeremiah at some point.'_ I mused.

"Are you mad?! The only reason they're giving you a trial is to find you guilty! The judge, the prosecution, AND defense!"

I chuckled softly under my breath at Lelouch's appalled exclamations.

"I don't know. You put up a pretty good case for my innocence. I don't think the manufactured evidence they have against me, presented by a likely soon-to-be-disgraced Margrave, will hold up to a confession." I smirked, glancing back at Zero over my shoulder. "Thank you, for that. You've probably saved me either way this conversation went."

I almost chuckled again as I left, imagining what Lelouch was probably thinking of me in his head right now for denying his plans.

He didn't know I was joining him. I just had a better idea of how to do it.


	5. 04 - Project Orange

**The Black King**

Fuck everything.

First, Kallen shows up at school and I slip up and make the dumbest mistake possible because I don't understand the limitations of my power.

Then I take her aside because I _think_ she might suspect I'm the voice from Shinjuku. And instead, apparently she figured out I'm a prince!

Also, she's borderline insane, if her willingness to listen to what I, as Zero, have to say, do what I ask, and just not show any second guessing or fear, is any indication.

Then, Suzaku gets captured for my crime. Tortured for _my_ crime. I free him, and he gives me some cryptic fucking answer and walks away from me and back to Britannia! I'm supposed to be the one giving people riddles!

And now, this witch shows up, makes Nunnally think we're engaged, refuses to answer my questions, and steals my damn bed. Now I'm on the floor and _dammit_ my back is going to hurt in the morning.

Again, fuck everything.

 **The Black Queen**

I remembered an oddity happening the day after Suzaku's trial. A discussion with Lelouch that had turned out...weird. So I decided to see what was up with it, rather than avoid it completely.

"Lelouch?" I asked, approaching him while he was sitting on the bench in the Academy courtyard, on his laptop. "About what I brought up the other day… when we were in the bathroom." I started, waiting as he closed the computer and turned his attention to me with a wary look.

"I'm sorry I brought it up. I had to do an essay on the Second Pacific War last year and I almost did it on those two. Things just kind of fell into place." I lied. Keeping my words deliberately vague. No doubt he would want to keep specific conversation about this subject out of any potential eavesdroppers in the school. I couldn't exactly say that I was interested in the call that had come in the bathroom, not this time anyway. I'd implied that I knew exactly who it was. And I did.

Although the subject of the talk this time was completely different, the outcome was much the same. He looked past me, over my shoulders. His violet eyes widening in shock and panic. I turned my head to see why… and he grabbed my face, pretending to kiss me.

Well, he tried, anyway.

You see, despite pretending to be a sickly girl for most of my education at Ashford, I wasn't really all that big on pretending. So I didn't.

This was nothing like the kiss I stole after I betrayed him. After he took the throne. Then he had shown faint surprise, but otherwise no reaction at all. It was cold. It was unfeeling. He had pushed me away. And I had let him, for the second time. For the second time I had had the chance to _force_ him to acknowledge my loyalty...but I just let him push me away and send himself to his death.

Here, well, he was still certainly surprised, incredibly so. And he even seemed to try and voice some kind of protest against my lips. I used the opportunity to slip my tongue into his mouth and deepen it.

Don't ask. Even I don't know what had gotten into me, but Lelouch eventually groaned quietly and relaxed into my touch… and then quickly clamped down on that comfortable reaction to pull away. "What… Was that?" He asked, violet eyes again wide and looking at me in bewilderment.

I gave him a small smile. "Ah...What indeed…"

Karma's a bitch, Lelouch.

 **The White Knight**

I was so absorbed trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Lelouch and Nunnally to Jeremiah that I almost completely forgot to set my bag down and catch Euphie.

Until I heard her wail, anyway.

Euphemia. Beautiful Euphemia. I killed my best friend to avenge her memory. And now...Now I somehow had acquired the chance to save them both. A chance I had no intention of wasting, mind you.

I was silent for a few moments as I looked at her, gazing into the light violet eyes that she held. Similar to Lelouch's, but more...gentle and of a lighter shade. My silence this time was more out of joy and the memory of the grief I'd experience a year ago upon her death than it was out of shock. But I managed to catch myself when she began to excuse herself for falling on me.

"I wasn't exactly expecting a beautiful girl to drop into my arms." I chuckled quietly. "You do know there are these things called doors, right?" I asked, rubbing the bag of my head.

She offered the same B.S. that I fell for the first time, about bad men chasing her, and asked me to help her get away. And like the first time, I did.

It was perfect. I spent the entire day, or at least it felt like it, with her. And I didn't regret a single moment of it. I don't know if I was living in a memory, but everything still felt...new. The pink haired princess, Lelouch's half sister, had my complete attention. My complete devotion. At least for now.

Believe me, it felt good to get away from plotting what to do with your knowledge of the future. Even if it were only for a few hours. This time, I actually knew who Euphie was, although I didn't really let that on. We walked. We laughed. We sat and just enjoyed the cool autumn air in the park.

Just my luck that Arthur would still show up though. Damn cat. I am _not_ a chew toy!

This, like many things since I had been sent back in time, was like a dream. This one, in the simple fact that it was...perfect.

If I could, this would _not_ be the last time Euphemia li Britannia got to enjoy a day as a normal girl, rather than as a Princess of Britannia.

I didn't put up a protest this time when she asked to visit Shinjuku.

Soon, like before, we were interrupted after a scuffle with Tamaki and those two students, by the sounds of fighting over in the stadium. The purists, having their scuffle. Or rather their attempt to wipe up the loose end of one Jeremiah Gottwald.

This time I had noticed Cecile and Lloyd practically stalking me over the course of the day, and when they showed up I didn't even hesitate to tantalize Lloyd with the prospect of gathering more battle data for the _Lancelot_.

"What business does the Special Corps want here?! Interlopers will die!"

Oh Kewell, you power-hungry fool…"No. I didn't stand by and watch while Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia suffered at the hands of their country, and I'm not about to start doing it for this man."

"What?!" Came Jeremiah's shocked exclamation.

Seed, planted.

"Back down, Lord Kewell." I demanded, ready to leap from the rim of the Stadium into the defense of Jeremiah as I had before.

And indeed, the slash harkens came. The moment that happened, I decided not to show these _murderers_ any mercy. My blades sliced through slash harkens and their tethers. When I hit the ground, like before, I kicked the feet of one _Sutherland_ out from under it.

Unlike before, I stabbed my MVS blade through his cockpit.

I continued with the next, again, halting the lance with my MVS and slicing through it...but not stopping at the end of the arm. I bisected the machine and sped away as it blew up. Villetta showed up then and took out a third, merely disabling it, unlike my attacks, and I faced off against the only remaining opponent; Kewell.

"Don't even think about firing that Chaos Mine, Kewell. There's a Princess here. If you do it I will make sure you're known for attempted Regicide." I declared darkly, knowing that, any second now, Euphemia would be running through onto the field. While I believe in the Blaze Luminous shield to protect her again, I really wouldn't show any mercy to him if he threatened her. Even by accident.

I'd killed someone who meant far more to me for the same crime.

On cue, Euphie.

Guess I didn't get to kill him.

 **That Night**

As expected, one Jeremiah Gottwald hunted me down the first instant he could.

"How did you know those names?" The blue-haired Margrave demanded desperately, once I exited the _Lancelot_ after parking it back in the Special Corps truck. Presumably, Emperor Lelouch's most loyal servant had left his damaged _Sutherland_ behind somewhere.

"Lelouch and Nunnally? Because they're my friends." I noted, turning to him with a look of feigned curiosity, tilting my head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

His eyes widened and he reached out to grab my arms. I let him with a sense of amusement blossoming in my core. "They're supposed to be dead!"

"Supposed to be." I repeated with a raised eyebrow. "But they aren't. Like you pointed out in my interrogation. I'm Genbu Kururugi's son. We were their hosts when they arrived here seven years ago. Me, Lelouch, and Nunnally escaped the Britannian special forces team sent to kill them. I saw Lelouch last week in fact, in Shinjuku."

The orange eyes of...well...orange, widened in shock, joy, and rage.

Lelouch and Nunnally were alive.

Britannia tried to kill them.

I smiled grimly. "He's a student here in Area 11. Though, I'm sure you can see why he would have no desire to return to the homeland?" I questioned.

Jeremiah let go of me and backed away in shellshock. Eyes wide. Mouth open. Hands frozen and yet shaking in front of him. Like every thing he'd ever believed was ripped out from under him.

I felt my eye itching and my consciousness take hold of his body. I could hear the whispers of his mind.

' _Lord...Lelouch...and...Lady Nunnally...are...alive? And Britannia...tried to kill them? What else does this honorary Britannian know?'_

Hook, line, and sinker.

I returned to my body.

And so begins Project Orange.

 **The Black King**

Remember what I was saying yesterday?

I felt my eye twitch as my best friend, and the man that had left my alter ego in the rubble of a destroyed building with nothing but a confusing explanation...stood introducing himself as the newest student at Ashford Academy.

First...everything else.

Then Kallen kissed me.

The witch apparently has no idea how to keep a low profile, and can't stop asking questions although she won't answer any of mine…

And now...now there's this.

Fuck. My. Life.

Why can't anything go according to plan?


	6. 05 - Nightmares

**The Black Queen**

When I opened my eyes, my heart froze. I was back there. At the execution. Nominally my execution parade, but I knew now that it had never been mine at all. _'No. No. I can't be here again. Even if this is just a dream, just a nightmare. I_ can't _go through this again!'_ I begged whatever power was listening. I was back in time, right? I had a geass! I was trying to save him!

It didn't seem to matter. Zero appeared on the horizon. Again. And Jeremiah went out to face him, again. An empty attempt. I growled. My glare forced my geass to activate, which made it even worse, watching everything in slow motion. I couldn't do anything. Just like the first time...I was trapped to the damn pole. No longer a prison to keep me from escaping my death, now a prison preventing me from _doing_ anything to stop the one I was about to witness.

He'd planned it like that, hadn't he?

Maybe I could scream. Maybe if I yelled out his plans loud enough for the world to hear in the next 20 seconds, I would ruin them. Lelouch would have no choice but to live...if anyone even paid attention. If he even heard me. Certainly they hadn't...when…

I couldn't even bring myself to think it, but the dream forced my eyes to follow _Suzaku_ while he ascended to Lelouch's throne and brandished his sword.

It had to be a dream. It just had to be.

Suzaku, you bastard. I hate you. I hate everything about you. If it wasn't for the fact that the Lelouch I'm trying to save right now still considers you a friend, I'd kill you in your sleep. You stood in his way every time he tried to accomplish anything until the end. And then…

I closed my eyes and screamed once more when he thrust the blade forward and stabbed Lelouch. So much _blood_. I hadn't been forced to watch Naoto's death...I hadn't had to relive it again and again like this…

Except Lelouch isn't dead…

Not yet, anyway. Right?

I hadn't changed anything major yet. Except for kissing Lelouch. Everything is happening exactly as it had before. At least it seemed like it. What if I wasn't changing enough? What if I _couldn't_ change enough? What if I couldn't change _anything?!_

I couldn't lose him again. He can't die. Not again. If I can't change anything else there are at least two points where my actions and my actions alone could have saved him.

I ran away when he needed me the most on Kamine Island, and his father erased his memories because of it.

I walked away when he needed me the most on the _Ikaruga_. Because I let him push me away. Because he had nothing left and I believed his words, instead of his actions. Because he totally hadn't proven to me time and time again that I was more than just a damn _pawn_.

I cracked my eyes open when I heard the slide of his body finish. And there he was, next to Nunnally. Fading violet eyes staring...straight at me. A peaceful, yet tired smile on his face. Accepting his death with open arms.

"Happy...birthday...Kallen…" He whispered. And somehow I heard him, even across the distance. Even over Nunnally's wails.

I'd forgotten it had been my birthday. I had thought him scheduling my execution for my birthday had been some kind of cruel irony.

It was, just far worse than I'd expected. I clenched my fist so tight I could feel the blood starting to pool against my fingertips. A sob building in my throat.

This had been my damn birthday gift. He thought I wanted to see him die. Or maybe his asinine attempt to make the world a better place had been my birthday gift. A peaceful world I could enjoy. Without him.

Lelouch, you idiot. Nunally didn't want a peaceful world without you in it. I don't want any part of a world without you in it either. There had to be some way you could pull of your plan and live. You're a genius. You…

...Had stopped caring. Didn't you?

Your mother was gone. Euphemia was dead. Shirley was dead. You thought Nunnally was dead. You pushed me away because I was the only thing you had left and you thought I'd be better off without you.

This execution, it wasn't a plan to bring peace to the world.

It was just you giving up.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up in my bed, breathing shakily and covered in a cold sweat.

"I won't let you give up, Lelouch." I vowed aloud, though in a quiet whisper. "I don't know if I can stop Euphemia. Or Shirley. Or Nunnally turning on you...but I swear to whatever god exists...I will give you a reason to live." _'I will_ be _your reason to live if I have to.'_ I tacked on mentally without missing a beat.

Because I won't betray you again.

I don't have a plan. I don't know how this is going to end up. Free Japan? Britannia controlling the world again under your rule? I don't care.

Screw the black knights. Screw Japan. Screw Britannia. I'm loyal to you, Lelouch. Be you a vi Britannia, a Lamperouge, or Zero. I'm _your_ Queen.

' _I love you.'_

I had been afraid to say that before. Thinking that maybe I'd fallen in love with him eventually because of things he hasn't done yet. That I shouldn't love the version of him I could save right now. He hadn't thrown everything into helping me achieve Naoto's dream because my goals aligned with his yet.

But I didn't need that. I fell in love with him because of who he was. Something that had been unchanging for years before I met him. He'd always hated Britannia. He'd always wanted to make a gentle world for his sister to live in. He'd always loved Nunnally.

I'm not afraid anymore.

Not of that, anyway.

 **The White Knight**

I gasped awake. Immediately looking down at my hands as if I expected to see them covered in blood. They had been. But they weren't now.

Go figure. For years I'd had nightmares about having killed my father. Only makes sense that murdering my best friend would take that mantle eventually. Even if I was in the past, even if I technically hadn't done it yet.

A minute later, my head was in my hands. My wishing for another way had brought me here. To the past. That had to be why I was here, right? I literally made that wish and then the next thing I know I'm in Shinjuku again.

But there had always been another way. I just hadn't let him look into. He'd been tired. He'd lost the will to live, and instead of _being a friend_ and helping him find a reason, I'd encouraged him. Pushed him to go through with it.

' _Are you going to go through with it?'_ I'd asked, over and over again. It hadn't been out of concern. Not the first time anyway. It had been out of contempt. It had been out of anger. It had been condescending and it had been a challenge.

Even the last time I'm not sure whether it had been out of scorn or out of concern.

I drove my best friend to kill himself. By my hand, but none of it had been my plan. I'd made him do all the dirty work, relishing in the fact that I could kill him at any time if he strayed too far from the path he'd set out for himself.

And then the time finally did come to kill him and I could barely do it.

I shouldn't have.

I was supposed to be his friend. I was supposed to drive him to find a reason to live. Not drive him to accept that he didn't have one. I was supposed to protect him. Not…

Not kill him.

If you can't tell, today has been a little rough. I'd shown up at Ashford, and it was hard to keep my composure with Lelouch on the roof. Even harder to have dinner with him and Nunnally later that night. The little sister taking my hand, crying and thanking heavens that I was alright. Asking if I was going to stay the night.

I killed your brother, damn it. You should hate me.

God knows I hate myself.

I will fix it. Lelouch's uncaring bastard of a father and she-devil of a mother will still get what's coming to them. It's just that he won't have to lose his memories this time to do it.

I have a plan. Maybe it's stupid. Usually my plans are. Usually I'm too stubborn to change them. Not this time. This plan will change if it needs to. I'm going to help Lelouch. First as Zero, and whether that rebellion ends with Euphie's SAZ or a Free Japan, it doesn't matter. When Zero's rebellion is over, Lelouch vi Britannia will rise.

And he won't be a demon this time.

Now, I just have to get my wits about me after that nightmare and start planning. I already have Jeremiah. I can work on Euphie, possibly Lloyd and Cecile. Maybe Jeremiah can work on Villetta and Cornelia. Maybe. I'm not holding out too much hope, but it would be nice.

After all, I had a coup to stage to get Lelouch to the throne once his father was dead.

Because whether he wants it or not, Lelouch is the only member of that bloodline I trust with the throne. He's ruthless enough to make the hard decisions Nunnally and Euphie couldn't, but all he wants is for the world to be a better place. I can't say the same about Schneizel or Cornelia.

I snorted to myself at the irony of it. Staging a coup to get Lelouch to the throne with me as his sword was easier than trying to become Knight of One with Charles in power. And the whole world would be free instead of just Japan.

Why the hell hadn't I done this the first time around?

Suzaku Kururugi, Knight of Honor to Euphemia li Britannia. Knight of Zero to Lelouch vi Britannia. Murderer.

Probably going to have to kill a lot more before this is over.

Oh well, can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

 **The Orange Knight**

Like the Kururugi boy promised, I'm free. Innocent in the eyes of the court, but demoted three ranks for my failure and ridiculed as the 'Orange boy'. I'd have to start over as a pilot or cultivating an orange farm.

Or as a knight of my Lord, Lelouch vi Britannia.

Project Orange; a network inside the Britannian military, loyal to my Lord. A project known only to a trusted select few.

Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue by Kururugi or perhaps it was intentional. That wording implied that _Zero_ was trusted by my Lord.

Perhaps he was, my Lord surely couldn't lose his most valuable agent in Britannia to a witch hunt. Zero was probably an agent of my Lord. Just like Suzaku. And now? Just like me.

I smirked to myself when Guilford continued to try and ridicule me about Orange. If it hadn't been for Kururugi, I would probably take offense. Probably go on a desperate attempt to prove myself.

Now? I'm proud of the moniker. Internally. I can't let anyone else see it. But I _am_ an 'Orange-boy'. The only issue is that I probably won't have access to the kind of information I otherwise would have as a Margrave, but Kururugi assured me that will not be an issue.

I can not wait for the day I get to see my Lord again and swear my loyalty to him and him alone.

 **The Black King**

And _now_ I have a fucking cat to deal with.

Wonderful.


	7. 06 - Unmasked

**The Black Queen**

So...Cathunt. Again.

Why the heck did Milly want that cat so much again? I'd forgotten.

I could have most likely easily caught the thing. Pulled what Suzaku had at the belltower, provided I wasn't trapped trying to pretend to be sick and useless. But I had cornered the cat at the stairwell with Shirley at one point. I figured maybe the cat would end up there on it's own if I went there. And I wouldn't have to deal with Shirley railing me about if I wanted to kiss Lelouch or not.

Not that I haven't already, mind you.

Sure enough, the cat did show up. Went straight under that table like before.

Wearing Zero's mask.

Ah. So that's what the big deal was. Milly must have known it was something important to Lelouch. She just didn't know it was this. Alright then.

Step one: catch the cat.

Step two: hide the mask.

Step three: think of a good way to mess with Lelouch

So...I did end up catching Arthur. Threw my jacket over him, actually. Wrestled the mask off and quickly hid it in the drawer of the desk the crippled cat had been hiding under.

And then I had the dumbest idea ever.

 **The Perverted She-Devil**

Ooooh. Kallen found the cat! I wonder who our cute little sickly redhead is gonna kiss? Hmmm…

Better question is what that cat has! It's gotta be some good dirt on my little Prince Lulu! I am going to enjoy making him….blush?

Okay...I was not expecting that.

My, my, Lulu. You're growing up so quick.

 **The Black King**

Damn. Kallen found the cat. Well...it doesn't have the mask on, at least. Maybe she didn't see it.

But...why is there a bra around it's neck?

...Oh shit.

 **The Black Queen**

I handed the cat off to Milly outside in the courtyard, torn between flushing a deep red and laughing hysterically at the mixture of shock, interest, and an absolutely evil hint of giddiness to her. "Oh my, Lulu. I wanted to get some dirt on you but...this?" The blonde asked when Lelouch joined the group; a mass of students including Suzaku, all the student council members, and a lot of random students who I never did catch the name of.

"Uh...I...Uh…" I did giggle at that as the former Emperor...future Emperor? Current revolutionary? Stood gobsmacked trying to figure out, I assume, first, what he was seeing, second, where the hell his mask was, and third, how the hell to answer.

Worth it.

Also, bonus points; Suzaku doesn't get his trust from all the students.

"So...Kallen. Who are you going to kiss?"

Ah, I forgot Milly would still enforce that. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Right?

I sauntered my way over to Lelouch, half turning to Milly. "Who do you think? It _is_ my bra on that cat." I declared, looping my arms over Lelouch's shoulders and stealing his lips in a passionate kiss.

God, what the hell is wrong with me?

 _Thud._

Hm? Did someone just faint?

 _Thud._

I groaned in annoyance against Lelouch's frozen lips and turned to look over my shoulder. Blinking at the limp and twitching forms of Rivalz and Shirley, accompanied by one absolutely gobsmacked Millicent Ashford.

I couldn't help it, I giggled.

 **The Black King**

I...She...It…What is going on?!

 **The Perverted She-Devil**

Oh, this is _rich_. Kallen, I _like_ you. We are going to be great friends.

You and Shirley, not so much.

But you and me? Oh we are going to rule this school and mess with Lulu.

Just you wait.

 **The Black Queen**

God, how I wanted to laugh my ass off right now. I got to kiss my king, I got to mess with him, and I didn't even have to lie!

I swear, everybody had gotten over their shock and already asked their questions before his brain even rebooted enough for him to start thinking of an explanation for what just happened. I wanted to hear it, I really did. But even the almighty Lelouch vi Britannia seemed to be stuck in a processing loop, his mouth opening to say something and then closing.

"What, I'm not allowed to kiss my boyfriend?" I asked after a minute of people staring. Deciding to give him an out. And an excuse for sneaking off campus to go be Zero. I gave him a look that said to just 'go with it'. Before realizing he may not understand that look yet.

He didn't know I knew he was Zero yet.

Which would be rectified here in a few minutes.

 **The Perverted She-Devil**

It's official. I love this girl.

 **The Black Queen**

Eventually, I took Lelouch's arm and tugged him off towards the building I had come from. "Speaking of which, I think me and him have a discussion to have about how my bra ended up on a cat. We'll see you later."

I led him with little protest back to the desk where I'd caught Arthur, and began humming to myself when I opened the drawer to retrieve his mask.

"So...now that all those theatrics covering your ass are taken care of...care to explain?" I asked, turning to him and presenting the mask.

 **The Black King**

I...wait...okay Lelouch. Deep breaths. Get back up to speed. What is going on?

Theatrics? Covering my ass? Explain what?

I looked down.

At the reflection of myself in my Zero Mask.

And then I looked back up at Kallen, who held a raised eyebrow and a small smirk of victory.

God fucking dammit.

 **The Black Queen**

"So...what exactly makes a long-lost Prince, posing as a schoolboy, decide to start a revolution against his home country?" I asked with a feigned sense of curiosity. It was a rhetorical question, I already knew the answer. But I needed _him_ to know that I knew, that I wasn't going to fall for any of his attempts at excuses, and I expected him to tell the truth.

Helps to demand the truth when you already know what the truth is.

"Now, Lelouch." I continued while he still stared at me with horror. "I know you know I'm not who I pretend to be here. And I know you're not who you pretend to be. So let's just drop the pretenses. I told you your secret is safe with me, I didn't just mean your royalty." I offered softly, grabbing his wrist with me free hand, nearly giggling again at how stiff it was, and it was twitching, but I tugged it out between us and placed his mask in his hand.

"So why don't you make keeping that secret easier on both of us, and keep this thing in a safer place. Yes?"

 **The Black King**

Shit. Shit. Fuck. Dammit. Shit.

How does she _know_?!

Scratch that. That's rather obvious. Mask. Cat.

And apparently she's really observant.

Crap. I can't geass her, I already did.

And she can easily kill me before I could do anything to her.

How am I going to…

She giggled. Again. "You're not even listening to me, are you? I just sacrificed my bra to the demon queen of Ashford to cover your ass and you still think I'm going to turn on you?"

...Alright, I'm listening.

She took my hand again, tracing the lines in my palm absently while I swallowed nervously and met her eyes, finding…

...Absolute devotion and a fierce passion that I had thought she only felt for freeing Japan.

I need tylenol. Or alcohol. Or both.

 **The White Knight**

So, Kallen found the cat this time. Odd. I guess considering how radically I've changed I can't expect everything else around me to stay the same. This means I'm not on the student council yet. Although, seeing the look on Lelouch's face when Kallen glomped all over him was _so_ worth it.

I must have landed in an alternate universe where Kallen liked Lelouch ahead of time. Or fell for him quicker, not sure. Maybe they'd always been this close? I know how he felt about her. His last request to me was to look after his sister and Kallen while he was gone.

All of this was going through my head while I glared at the newest object of my hatred in an otherwise painfully dull state funeral for Clovis la Britannia. Charles. All of this was his fault. He'd raised Schneizel to be a conniving bastard. He'd let V.V. get away with killing Lelouch's mother. He'd exiled Lelouch and Nunnally. He'd wiped Lelouch's memories and he'd turned me against my best friend with the promise of the power to save my country.

He's going to die. Make no mistake of that. I just have to figure out how to do it, considering that if Kamine island is even the same, everything after that is going to change.

At this point, I don't even know if Euphemia is going to name me her knight anymore. Hopefully she does, that'll give me enough swing to start this coup. But I'm not the same gentle, naive idiot I was that she fell in love with last time.

I can't afford to be. That had gotten her and Lelouch both killed.

Next up; Cornelia and Saitama.

Time for Lelouch to find out he has an ally.

 **The Orange Knight**

 _From: Orenji_

 _To: Zero_

 _My Lord, Princess Cornelia is ordering the 73rd Royal Knightmare Regiment to surround Saitama ghetto. I believe she is planning an attack that would replicate the conditions of the attack on Shinjuku in hopes of drawing you out._

 _I trust you to do well with this information_

 _Your ally,_

 _Shinozaki Orenji_

I sat back in my chair and hit send on the email. Troop movements apparently were a surprising tell of what was going on in this Area, and even the lowest Private had access to them.

I do wonder why the Kururugi boy asked me to use the alias 'Shinozaki Orenji', but oh well. If the Elevens were the only ones loyal to my Lord, then I will switch bodies and be a damn Eleven if I have to.

I owe it to him.


	8. 07 - Rebel Revelations

**The Black King**

She giggled when I dragged her away to interrogate her on what she knew. _Giggled!_

I'm freaking out here! You're not allowed to be amused by it dammit!

I was pacing back forth in front of her, hands tugging my hair, trying to figure out what the hell to do. Trying to figure out some method of working around this. But… I didn't see any. Had I really been that sloppy? I can't win against Britannia if it was so easy for Kallen to see right through me.

Also. WHY IS SHE SO GOD-DAMNED AMUSED?! I'm Zero! I'm Britannian! I lied to her! Why is she helping me?!

"What do you know?" I asked in defeat, apprehension joining surrender in my tone as I turned to her. I probably looked crazy…

 **The Black Queen**

I couldn't help but smirk at Lelouch. It was nice to see him freaking out in a situation where it really didn't matter. If anybody else did this to him… I'm looking at you, Suzaku, Cornelia, Ohgi and Schneizel…I'd kill them.

What all did I know? Quite a bit. But exactly how much could I _tell_ him?

"I know you're Britannian." I started, deciding to start with the basics. "A prince at that. I know Nunnally is your sister and she'd have no place in the Britannian view of the world." I added after a bit, studying him as my face softened. "I know for some reason you're here, you're hiding your royalty, and you're taking up the mantle of Zero to fight your own country. The specifics of why really don't matter to me, but I think you're doing it for revenge of some kind and to make a better world for your sister to live in because you love her so much."

Jeez, me. When are you going to stop? "And I know you've proven you can lead us to victory. So I have no problem with following you. How can I hate you for being Britannian when I'm one too?" I offered.

 **The Black King**

Fuck.

She knows everything.

Well, basically everything anyway.

And… she's still willing to follow me? Support me? Why? I just don't get it.

I must have been processing this for too long, because she continued.

 **The Black Queen**

"My brother died resisting Britannia. A hopeless resistance. We were fighting like cornered animals until Shinjuku, hurting everything we could while we could. You showed us we can win. You showed us we don't have to hurt every Britannian." I continued, noting that he'd frozen. I paused to let that sink in. "I figured out you were a prince after I figured out you were the voice. And you know what I realized?" I gave him a moment to answer but he just seemed… confused. Poor Lelouch. I must be throwing everything out the window for you. I promise… it's for the better.

"I realized that we were selfish." I declared, stepping towards him. "Why stop here? Maybe we do succeed. Maybe eventually we do free Japan. What then? My friends will turn on you the minute they've secured our freedom." They already had. Fuck you Ohgi, fuck you Tohdoh. "But don't we have an obligation to help everyone we can? What if we can free all the areas? What better way to do that than supporting someone with a heart and a legitimate claim to the throne?"

I put my hand to his forearm at this. "Plus, I happen to admire the strategy. The bold plans. The charisma. The drive to change the world… and you're cute. So…"

…God dammit, Kallen. You've been around Milly way too much.

 **The Black King**

…Seriously?

Is she doing what I think she's doing?

No way. No. Fucking. Way.

I opened my mouth to respond…

To find her lips covering mine again in another kiss.

I groaned against her lips. They were soft, but passionate. Almost desperate. And I couldn't help but fall into the temptation of returning it for a few brief moments before coming to my senses and pushing her away. "Kallen! What are you doing?" I asked, panting.

I had to look thoroughly bewildered, confused, and probably at this point, cautious. But… seriously. How was she THIS loyal?

 **The Black Queen**

"I'm kissing the guy I happen to like and hoping he comes to his senses and realizes I'm not going to turn on him and I'd happen to double as a really good excuse for his absenses as a masked rebel." I drawled confidently.

I was anything but. My heart was _hammering_ in my chest. I couldn't help it. I was afraid. What if I just fucked up everything?

What if he didn't believe my loyalty?

What if he made worse decisions than he had the first time?

Was I just taking advantage of this version of Lelouch because I didn't get to have anything with my own?

No. No, that wasn't it. I'd failed my Lelouch over, and over, and over again. I left him at Kamine Island. When he got his memories back I used him for the purposes of helping the Black Rebellion. And even when I became his biggest supporter, even when I stopped him from taking Refrain, I was doing it for my own gain.

When I turned on him it was because I was afraid. Afraid that he'd always been using me like I used him.

When I kissed him at the summit it was a last resort. Because I wanted him to show me there was something left under all those robes. All that pain and all that anger and all my betrayal.

I had wanted THIS Lelouch back.

"Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I think you're doing the right thing for the right reasons. And I trust you love your sister enough that you'll continue to do try and do that as long as you can. So I want to be by your side. Whether that's at Zero's side as Kallen Kozuki, or at Lelouch vi Britannia's side as Kallen Stadtfeld. I will be your Q-1...and yes, I know that's chess notation and it means I'm your Queen...I will be your ace. I will be your bodyguard. I will be whatever you need me to be."

… God. Could I sound any more desperate?

 **The Black King**

Just as I was trying to wrap my head the unexpected declaration of devotion… and apparently, intent of romantic pursuit… I was saved by the bell.

Or in this case, the phone.

She relaxed at the interruption and, in turn, so did I. I still drew in a shaky breath when I reached into my pocket to pull it out.

I froze upon reading the first line of the email.

I was still frozen when I finished it.

Who the hell was Shinozaki Orenji? Was he some relation to Sayoko maybe? How did he get my email address? Why had he decided to tell me about Saitama?

 **The Black Queen**

I frowned, studying Lelouch's reaction. I stepped to his side, but remained facing him. "What's wrong?" I asked, dropping any hint of the school girl act right then and there.

Lelouch was a simple man. Words didn't really earn his trust quite to the same level as actions did. At least to my knowledge, which made sense. He was a pathological liar. His words meant nothing, even to him. So why should anyone else's?

"Cornelia. She's… surrounding Saitama. To draw me out." He breathed, showing me the email. I furrowed my brow. Oh. Right. Saitama. I'd forgotten about that. I wasn't there the first time and I'd completely forgotten about it in the other activities of the Black Rebellion.

It didn't seem like Lelouch to be shaken up like this though. "Okay. That doesn't seem like an issue by itself. Let's go spring the trap. You're smart enough to out-maneuver her." I offered. Giving him a look to show I'd be with him.

"That's not it." he declared. "I don't know a Shinozaki Orenji." He muttered. So low I almost couldn't hear him.

Wait. Wait. What?

I looked back at the phone. The email had been sent to Lelouch's school email address. _._ Which meant…

Someone else knew who he was.

Orenji.

Orange.

Jeremiah? No. That's impossible. I don't even know how I got sent back in time. Time travel is supposed to be impossible. The chance of anyone else being from the future is astronomically infinitesimal. Which just _saying_ those two words together makes my brain hurt.

No. This Jeremiah was just as bigoted as he had been the last time. There is no way, no _fucking_ way he would go by a Japanese name even if he was on Lelouch's side.

Right?

So… who the hell?

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, and gave him a look. "Alright. That's a little concerning." ' _For more reasons than I can tell you.'_ "But if the information is accurate, I don't think Saitama can afford for us to question it. Let's go." I urged, grabbing his wrist.

I wasn't there the first time. So this time I would be following brand new orders.

I loved watching Lelouch work up a plan that was completely magical.

Maybe with my help this time, we could save the Yamato Alliance.

Maybe.

Provided this wasn't more of a trap. Then again… maybe this had happened last time? I really don't know. Maybe I'm just freaking out and the timeline is staying the same.

If not…

Someone out there could be a threat to Lelouch.

Unacceptable.

 **The Black Queen**

I wasn't really any less concerned when we got to Saitama. But I put it in the back of my mind for now. We had a job to do.

"Alright." I breathed, looking around the corner of a building at the Knightmare that was standing idle at the perimeter of the ghetto, waiting for orders. We were still wearing our Ashford Academy uniforms, although Lelouch had grabbed his Zero attire on the way here and held it in a backpack. "Here's the plan, we act like a couple walking around on a date that got lost, lull the pilot of that thing into a sense of security and get him out of the cockpit to check on us, you use your mind control power to get him to give us the keys to that Knightmare, and we get into the ghetto and stop whatever your half-sister is planning. Unless you have a better idea?"

Strategizing still wasn't my thing.

"That works I gue-." Lelouch started with a shrug, and then froze mid sentence and mid motion to look at me with wide eyes of panic.

Great. What now?

"How do you know about that?" He asked quietly.

Huh? I thought over my words… and then cursed at myself mentally. Mind control power. I just told him I knew about his Geass.

Shit. How was I going to explain this?

 **The Black King**

Fucking HELL! Was there anything this woman DIDN'T FUCKING KNOW!?

How?! Does she know I geassed her?! Does everyone I geass know it's me?! Why the hell am I just now learning that she knows? Is she just trying to get me killed because she _thinks_ I geassed her into obeying my orders?

I turned to her and opened my mouth to further demand an answer, my hand twitching as I tried to think of a way to threaten her, or failing that, at least escape. But I neither had the weapons nor the strength to face her if she was anywhere near as competent as she appeared to be, nor the stamina to escape.

My question was caught in my throat when I saw her left eye light up.

Next thing I knew, I was pinned to a wall with her hand covering my mouth.

 **The Black Queen**

"Dammit." I muttered, having Lelouch pinned to the brick wall behind him as I took a steadying breath. He wasn't supposed to know that I knew about his geass yet.

"It was a guess." I lied, hating myself for doing it, but I couldn't just go about telling him the truth, could I? I cast a look over my shoulder to ensure the little outburst hadn't drawn any Britannian attention just yet.

"Look, yes. I know you have a geass. I have one too. We can talk about this later, we have bigger things to worry about right now." At least, I did. I needed to figure out how to lie my way out of this one. "All you need to know is that I know what your power is, I know you used it on me, and I know I'm following you of my own free-will. I'll explain everything later."

Well...Everything you need to know, anyway.

 **Author's Note: Good lord this chapter kicked my ass. I don't like it. At all. I'm really not happy with it but I tried for a week to think of anything better and I couldn't. Screw it. I'm posting this and we're moving on.**


	9. 08 - The Final Piece

I hate being blind.

I hate needing to use sound, smell, taste and touch to paint a vague and false color image of the world around me in my mind. I hate relying on other people using mere words to impose color on that image and fill in the blanks.

I hate being a cripple.

Being trapped in a wheelchair, barely able to get in and out of bed on my own. Relying on other people to push me around and guide me through a limited world that's accessible to me.

Most of all? I hate being coddled like an innocent little girl who would never hurt a fly.

I hate the horrors of the world being hidden away from me because of all the people that think it would break me.

Sound like a pattern to you?

Don't get me wrong, I play the sweet and innocent little girl persona rather well. But it's just that; a mask. A mask I wear because that's the little girl my big brother wants to see. He wears his own masks; dropping his cold and indifferent attitude when he's around me because he doesn't want me to see the cynical way he views the world. I wear my mask, to provide his life with a little bit of light.

In reality? I'm sure I'm just as cynical as him. The idiocy of people around me grates on my nerves. The selfishness of those in power, who continue to use those below them to promote their own power? It sickens me.

Furthermore, anyone who takes my brother away from me? Oh, they have no idea what I'm capable of.

Three weeks ago, the entire world took my brother away from me. Run through on a sword while I was powerless to stop it. I had to watch, as he tumbled down from the throne to my side. Blood smearing the flag of Holy Britannian Empire and pooling around me. I touched his hand and I saw it all. Every victory. Every defeat. Every heartbreak and every betrayal.

He gave up. He thought the world had taken me away from him, so he spent his last days recreating the world that my _mask_ wanted. When I tried to stop him; when I let my dark side out, he fought me.

Well you know what, big brother?

I reject your world.

Any world without you in it is not a world I want.

That was three weeks ago.

Or two years from now, if you'd rather look at it that way.

I begged God to give me a chance. To not take my brother away from me.

So he sent me here.

I opened my eyes. Royal violet glaring fiercely at the wall of my bedroom after Sayoko was out of earshot.

Fuck you and your geass, dad.

I took a breath, and pushed on the arms of my wheelchair, lifting my right leg out with effort and placing it underneath me. Gingerly putting weight on it.

Fuck you and your machine gun, Uncle V.

I wasn't entirely used to walking yet. No matter what miracles God had given me to help, I still hadn't walked in seven years. It had taken me three weeks just to learn how to walk across a room again.

I turned my eyes to the TV that sat in the side of my room. I'm mildly amused that it wasn't a radio, considering as far as brother and Sayoko know, I can't see and I likely never will, but whatever.

Saitama ghetto. Princess Cornelia, my dear sister Nelly. Encircling the ward...trying to draw my brother out. To trap him.

You want to take him away from me? Fuck you too, Nelly.

What? You're surprised? Didn't think I could be this angry on the inside? Ha. I am my brother's sister. You thought he was the only one with a dark side? Did you really think the spawn of Marianne Lamperouge and Charles zi Britannia could be anything less than a cunning, devious liar?

No.

No more Miss Nice Girl.

This world took my brother from me once before.

And I will burn it to the ground in the fires of FLEIJA before I let it take him from me again.

Both of my eyes burn with a mixture of fury, determination, and _absolute manipulation_ while I turn to the door of my room.

Anyone else would just see Milly Ashford walking out of my room, smiling and wishing me a good night.

Such is the power of my Geass. To make anyone around me see what I want them to see when they look at me.

Nunnally vi Britannia is _done_ being sweet and innocent.

* * *

A/N: Here's a short chapter that came to me on a whim today. Just to show you guys that I'm still alive. My inspiration for this was the suggestion from the novel that Nunnally's kindhearted personality is a facade to hide the darkside which rivals Lelouch, resenting the fact that she's helpless. She is the last of the three people that will have time-traveled. She is also the only one who knows that the other two have traveled. And she's the only one who knows precisely what her Geass is.

Speaking of which, I should probably make that clear!

Nunnally - Absolute Manipulation: Nunnally has the ability to make anyone around her see what she wants them to see in place of her physical body. For the most part, she will use this to appear as her blind, crippled self to her classmates at school when in reality, she can now see and walk. She can also use this power with physical touch to give or read memories, similar to how she read Lelouch's in Zero Requiem. The downside is that she has to consciously think of whatever she wants her outward appearance to be. Distractions, such as someone surprising her, may cause the illusion to falter.

Kallen - Absolute Reaction: Kallen has the ability to slow her perception of time by a factor of 5 and speed up the perception of time for those around her by a factor of 2. The effect of this is a localized 'bubble' of bullet time. Inspired by the point man from the FEAR series. The range of this is the same as the range of Lelouch's Absolute Obedience: 272 meters. It has the drawback of leading to 'jitters' if used too often, similar to a caffeine high. The effect of the ability lasts for 12 seconds before it begins to cause migraines and nosebleeds.

Suzaku - Absolute Possession: Suzaku has the ability to possess any one body and control it remotely. He can read the conscious thoughts of the possessed, and their memories, but only if they are strong memories: i.e. he can't remember anything that person wouldn't be able to remember themselves in the time he can possess them. It requires line of sight to subject, but it does not require direct eye contact. It also has a 272 meter range. He can possess a body for one minute before causing migraines and nosebleeds in him. Possessions any longer than 30 seconds are very likely to kill the possessed. Strong memories of the possessed will remain with Suzaku. Which can either be a gift or a curse.


	10. 09 - Sighting at Saitama

**The Black King**

Do you have any idea how hard it is to think of battle plans with the lithe body of a sexy redhead sitting in your lap?

Because it's hard.

Really hard.

And that's not the only thing that's hard.

Err...nevermind.

You're probably wondering how we got here, right? Well, how else? We approached the Britannian patrol, I used my geass, and we stole a Sutherland. Unfortunately, in the one seat cockpit of the giant mech, that meant we had to...improvise our seating arrangements.

Kallen seemed all to happy to sit on my lap.

Some parts of me were happier about that than others.

Wait, Battle. Right. Where was I?

I gave orders as was my specialty. Using the radio to direct the Yamato Alliance, giving out the same chess code names that I had during the Shinjuku Massacre. When Cornelia ordered the retreat, I smirked. That was my way in. She was practically inviting me!

"Already?" The redhead in my lap asked incredulously as she looked at the tactical map, raising an eyebrow. "The hell's her plan? Draw you to her where we can't escape and then wipe out the resistance, springing one trap at a time?"

...Good point.

Q-1 is smarter than she looks.

Granted, I should have figured that out by now because she's made me feel _fucking stupid_ these last three weeks.

 **The Black Queen**

So, apparently Lelouch was a red-blooded male with a taste for the female body.

Of course, I would only realize this once I was sitting in his lap in a schoolgirl skirt and my underwear, piloting a knightmare. Which, my style of piloting led to a lot of shifting in my seat, even on normally mundane actions.

"Grk!" I heard him bite out, trying to ignore my ass grinding across little Lelouch, and my face flushed. Probably as red as my hair.

"You're right." He stated after taking a breath, leading me to look over my shoulder at him curiously. "It's too early." His eyes were narrowed in thought as he looked at the map. "But what can we do? She'll probably have her Royal Guard come in to exterminate everything left in the ghetto, so we can't stay here. And if you're right, and going to her is a trap, we'll be stuck in the middle of a formation where my geass is no use…"

God, I loved watching him think. Watching the gears turn at the speed they did in his mind? Watching as neurons made connections while his eyes flickered over the battlemap.

"Mine might be." I offered quietly, begging him to trust me. Begging him to put his faith in me.

 **The Black King**

...Right. She had a geass too. Apparently. "...What _is_ your geass?" I asked after a moment, meeting her sapphire gaze and finding myself suddenly short of breath.

Nothing to do with her being in my lap. Nope. Nothing at all.

Seriously though, it was more about the absolute devotion that shone brightly in her sapphire blues that floored me.

"Bullet time. I think. That's the best way I can describe it. If we're going to be in a melee fight, I can get us out alive. Bring the Yamato Alliance with us. If nothing else they'll be a good cannon fodder distraction. Just remember the lap-dance is unintentional."

Right. Sound plan, if what she says is true...wait...lap-dance?

"What lap-dance?"

 **The Goddess of Victory**

This operation had better work.

I went through painstaking lengths to set this up, exactly like Shinjuku. Just to draw that bastard that killed my brother out. Zero would die today. I swear it. "Attention all knightmare pilots! Open your hatches and reveal your faces!" I ordered, and sat back in my throne, feeling rather smug in my assured victory.

"Why did you let them kill me, Nelly?" A voice asked. And I blinked, and looked up in irritation as to who would ever dare to use that nickname in a place like this...to see my long lost brother. Lelouch vi Britannia standing before me. Eyes unfocused and blood pouring out of his chest and mouth, staining the regal white clothing he wore in crimson.

"Why did you let Britannia kill me, Nelly?" He repeated, as I suddenly scrambled back in the seat of my throne. Eyes wide with fear.

I couldn't help it.

I screamed.

 **The White Queen**

A sinister grin covered my face as my dear half-sister Cornelia screamed at the words. My eyes blazing with the geass that ensured that only she heard the words I'd spoken. And ensured that everyone else in the G-1 would see just a nameless and faceless officer, while my dear sister would see the nightmare that I'd had to see the day my brother ushered in his new world.

The day she'd swarmed the streets in rejoice.

What's wrong, Sis? I thought you wanted to see our brother dead?

The entire room whirled to look at her, and she was staring straight at me. They followed her gaze...and I let everyone else see what she saw.

I wonder what the world record is for evacuating a G-1 command center? Because they _must_ have come close.

I laughed, and turned to follow them, my grin widening as I left my elder sister petrified on her throne.

Just something to think about, Nelly.

 **The Witch**

The green haired witch blinked owlishly underneath the mask of Zero, ready to appear from the rubble of building, when instead a swarm of men ran screaming out of the G-1 like they'd just seen something horrifying. All the knightmares in formation around the command vehicle paused and turned to see what all the commotion was about...when they were followed out by...Lelouch? In royal clothing, covered in blood, with a sword buried in his chest?

The witch gasped under her mask, looking in disbelief at the glowing violet eyes that scanned over the formation of Knightmares, many of whom recoiled at the sight.

In a thousand years of life, the immortal code holder had never quite seen anything like this before.

 **The Black Queen**

What...the hell?

I looked at the figure with wide eyes, breath catching in my throat at the all-too-familiar sight of Lelouch's grandiose death. A wraith of a future past that I hoped to never see again outside of nightmares.

No. No. No. It can't be...I looked over my shoulder just to verify that Lelouch was there. He was. And his eyes were just as wide and incredulous as mine. I swallowed. "Please tell me you have an explanation for this?" I asked quietly.

I received a slow shake of the head, and turned back to the screen, swallowing the lump in my throat.

The bloodied Lelouch was gone.

And then the Yamato Alliance decided it was the perfect time to attack. Which...well...I suppose it was. Rifle fire erupted and I quickly came back to the present, activating my geass to duck under slash harkens and rifle fire and retreat from the sudden chaos.

The haunting figure from my future stuck in my mind the whole time, along with a swirling maelstrom of questions and no one around with the answers.

...Speaking of questions, shit. I told Lelouch I would answer his after we'd dealt with this. Think, Kallen, how do you know about his geass?

How is his dead future self walking out of Cornelia's G-1?

How do _you_ have geass, for that matter?

Jeez, I really suck at lying.

 **The Black King**

I can't be hallucinating, right?

Because Kallen just asked if I had an explanation for it. Which I don't. That means she saw it too, right?

We both just saw _me_ , walking out of the G-1, with a sword buried in my chest?

Right?

What the _fuck_ is going on with my life?


	11. 10 - Who Needs Logic Anyway?

**A/N: Man, I despise Authors Notes. I really do. I hate reading them. I hate writing them. But apparently, I need to leave one here because I've done my job of keeping the end result of this story a mystery a little too well and y'all have no faith in me. So here goes: yes. I know code holders are immune to geass. No. Nunnally's geass is not an exception to this. That was not an oversight. That was very deliberate and has a very good explanation. I've probably spoiled it for the smarter among you now. But yeah. Trust me. Now. On to the story.**

In the sewers below the Saitama Ghetto, a certain green haired witch was running as fast as she could in the showy getup of Zero to catch up to the figure that had caused the chaos back at the G-1.

She'd watched as a Lelouch that should have been dead shifted into a regular soldier and just slipped through the battlefield towards one of the sewer entrances.

And she wasn't about to let whoever the hell this was get away without answering some questions first.

 **The White Queen**

I was humming lightly to myself as I calmly walked through the sewers, making my way back home at a casual pace even though I kept my geass active to look like a Britannian soldier. At least for now. I could shift to look like a regular student when I was back at Ashford.

The look on Cornelia's face had been absolutely priceless. And if I do say so myself...rather satisfying. Sure, Nelly hadn't really done anything yet. But I know what she would do in the future if I didn't change things. I saw my brothers memories. She betrayed him. She drove him to his death. And that deserves just a little bit of payback, I think.

"Stop!" I heard a voice behind me, and stiffened a little bit, turning around to face the pounding of feet. I caught a slim silhouette, gradually becoming clearer in the shadows, until the garb of Zero became clear. Sans helmet.

Instead, the shoulders were flayed with green hair.

Shit. C.C. She was the one person who could screw all of this up. She was immune to Geass, she would see right through my disguise, and she'd probably tell Lelouch, and…

"Who are you and how did you shift forms like that?"

…Wha?

"You… you can't see me?" I asked, blinking owlishly. "But… You're supposed to be immune to Geass."

Before I knew it, a pistol was brandished at my head. "How do you know that?"

Well, at my illusions head, anyway. Seeing as I was a full foot shorter than my illusion appeared to be, I was hardly concerned.

About the gun, anyway.

"I won't ask again. How do you know that?" She warned.

I blinked again in shock that she wasn't seeing right through me, and my illusion faltered with my concentration.

Golden eyes widened suddenly, and there was a clatter as the gun fell to the concrete beneath. "... Nunnally?"

… Somehow her not recognizing me was worse than her recognizing me and asking what the hell I was doing in Saitama.

Oh, Logic. Sweet prince, why have you forsaken me?

 _Thud._

 **The Black Queen**

Once we were safely in the sewers, I stopped to pant for breath. Liberal use of my geass to make it to the sewers without that Sutherland getting caught in the crossfire of the melee that erupted outside the G-1 had taken a lot out of me, my head was throbbing from the strain.

When the adrenaline left my body, the only thing preventing me from seeing the ghost of my future left with it. I tried hard, but I couldn't help it.

My worst nightmare, walking around a war torn ghetto.

Silent tears turned to quiet sniffles and sobs. Why? Why do I have to see that over, and over, and over again? Wasn't once enough?

"Kallen?" Lelouch asked gently, and I felt his hand settle on my shoulder.

I didn't even think about the repercussions of the actions before I turned and hugged him, tightly. Some part of me honestly frightened that, if I let go… he would disappear. Or turn into that nightmarish vision.

 **The Black King**

I blinked when the redhead buried her head in my neck and shoulders and continued to sob. Okay. I realize that nothing in that battle made sense. I realize that we got out of there alive by the skin of our teeth. But… What had her this upset?

"You saw it too, right? You? With the.. The sword? I've seen you… like that… before." She admitted quietly once she began to regain her composure. "And I never want to see it again."

Seen me like that? Before? How?

"I think some explanations are in order." I mused, carding a hand through her crimson locks in the closest facsimile to a comforting gesture that anyone outside of my sister had experienced in… years.

A few explanations, for sure. Like how she knew about my geass. Like where hers came from. And what the heck she meant by seeing that… version of me before?

And then, of course, the one she obviously wouldn't have the answer to; what the heck that vision was and where it came from.

 **The Black Queen**

Right… explanations. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. And decided… screw it. There's really no reasonable explanation for it. But after what we've just seen, maybe an unreasonable one will do.

"The night before I got my geass, I… had a dream." I started. Looking up into his violet eyes and finding myself getting lost. That was fine. "I know this won't make any sense. But in the dream, you were Zero. That's why it didn't really shock me when I found the mask on that cat. You had geass. The power to give a person a command they could not disobey, once. You joined our resistance group. You led us in a war against Britannia. You lost everything in that war. Your sister. Your friends. And when you were already at rock bottom… We betrayed you. We traded your life for the promise of a free Japan. But… you came back. We… I… Thought you were my enemy, until it was too late."

I paused my explanation, trying to keep everything about the future I knew as vague as possible. And turned away in shame. Swallowing my emotions that came roaring back so soon after I'd gotten them under control. "We killed you, at the end. And it turned out that was just… All part of your plan."

Because really, we did. We killed him. I killed him. I could have saved him three times. But I didn't. I turned back to meet his eyes again. "When I woke up, I had… This." I muttered, motioning to my left eye while I activated my geass for a split second. "I never want to see that dream come true. Ever. I know I barely know you. I know it doesn't make any sense but… It felt so real. And then I found the mask." I swallowed again, seeing him staring straight into my eyes as if searching them for answers. "I have a chance to make sure that dream never happens. And I swear to you, right now, that I will never betray you. Even if you order me to."

 **The Black King**

… She's right. That makes no sense whatso-fucking-ever.


	12. Interlude - Questions and Answers

**A/N: Yes. It's short. It's not a full chapter. Just a few scenes I wanted to be part of the story that I couldn't really fit into a full chapter and keep the flow I wanted.**

 **The White Queen**

"You _really_ need to lay off the pizza, C.C." Nunnally grunted as she helped the green-haired immortal down the hallway towards her bedroom. Beads of sweat going down her forehead. The witch was _just now_ coming around after fainting in the sewers. Like, how was a girl who'd only been walking for three weeks supposed to drag an immortal with a fair amount of pizza weight across a damn metropolis?!

The lost princess sighed in relief when she finally dumped C.C. off onto her bed and had the chance to collapse back into her wheelchair. "Oh. Yeah. Sure, now you wake up." She whined when the amber eyes blinked open in confusion, and then turned to face her with a blank look.

"Don't look at me like that."

The amber eyes blinked slowly.

"Seriously. Don't look at me like that!"

They blinked again.

"...Fine. I'll talk."

C.C. smirked at that, and Nunnally sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "Witch." She muttered under her breath. "Alright, so...surprise! I'm not blind and I can walk. Lulu doesn't know."

Another blink.

"...You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?"

And another.

"I hate you."

 **The Goddess of Victory**

"Why did you let Britannia kill me, Nelly?" The haunting voice asked again. Blood. So much blood. And that sword, the lifeless eyes…

Cornelia li Britannia shot awake with a gasp, sitting up and quickly rolling off of her bed, wretching. The contents of her stomach expelling themselves onto the floor by her bed while a series of sobs wracked her. "Lelouch…" She coughed, tears streaking down her face.

"Why did you let _Britannia_ kill me, Nelly?"

"Why did you let Britannia kill _me_ , Nelly?"

"Why did you let Britannia kill me, _Nelly_?"

"SHUT UP!" Cornelia screamed, clutching her ears, trying desperately to tune the apparition out.

 **The Immortal**

I stood in Nunnally's bathroom, quietly staring at my forehead in the mirror while I held my bangs out of the way with one hand. The geass sigil was still there. But...Something was wrong.

It was fading.

Something is weakening my code.

Normally, I would be ecstatic at this. After all, losing my code is that greatest wish I want Lelouch to fill. That I wanted Mao to fill.

It's the _what_ that is weakening my code that concerns me. And the _how_.

I let my bangs fall back in front of my face and sighed, looking at the ceiling. Lelouch is going to throw a fit when he finds out his sister is caught up in all of this.

 **The Orange Knight**

It can't be.

The resemblance is uncanny.

The reports of all the staff in the G-1 match.

But it just _can't be_.

Maybe I should start over. I'm looking at the security footage from the G-1, trying to figure out what had caused the battle of Saitama to descend into chaos.

I'd heard the reports. Lelouch vi Britannia appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the command center, with a sword in his chest and blood pouring from both ends of the wound and from his mouth.

But that wasn't what was on the security footage!

No, it was a _girl_. Dressed in a Britannian officers uniform, but a girl! Short at that, blonde hair that didn't even come close to meeting military regulation.

It was a girl with violet eyes.

It was Nunnally vi Britannia.

So the Kururugi boy was right. They are alive. And they do hate Britannia.

Very well.

"Computer...Delete recording."


End file.
